Sunday, May 3, 2009

The Bookman



A trip to the Valley would not be complete without stopping at The Bookman in Chilliwack. For all my travels this is my favourite used bookstore. The selection is as far ranging as it's quality. The organization is superb. I'm forever finding memoirs, fine literature and just the best beach books and thrillers. I love the Recovery, Psychology and Spirituality book sections as much as the history, gardening and sci fi. As a sailor I've found Chichester and Smeeton as well as charts and nautical how to books alongside all the great WWII sea battles. It's been over 12 years I've made it a must stop. Laura's been doing the same even longer so the two of us become like kids' in a toystore when we're there. I'm convinced Dave reads every single book himself and probably has read a trillion or two in his life time. Whenever I've wanted a recommendation no matter how arcane and obscure the subject he's picked a superb read. I saw all the William Gibson there today beside a an Anna Karenina, Lady's #`1 Detective agency in the day's featured reading. Limited by the carrying capacity of the motorcycle I bought the humor of Dave Barry and Patrick McMannus while Laura bought a Jodi Picoult and Chris Czajkowski. "You know there are studies that show the correlation between the number of books in the home and the educational success of children," said Dave. "I couldn't agree more. I'm often asked to help university students who are doing poorly only to find they don't read or write yet somehow expect to succeed in academics." I used to think that the people of Chilliwack must all be geniuses because in addition to all the potboilers Dave's selection has so many high minded selections and classics. One day he confessed that he travels far and wide to obtain the books for his store. He probably just says that. They likely all come from his own library and he's crying everytime he has to let one go. The deals have been so good that when I've driven up in my truck I've left with enough books to start my own shop but no where to put them when I get home. The motorcycle works the best but it just means more frequent Motorcycle runs to the Valley.

2 comments:

Amber Short said...

Thanks so much for this shout-out! We're glad you love the store as much as we do - and you're probably right about Dave being a little sad about every special book that he sells!

haykind said...

Thank you!